Beginner A newbie and a CM-4

Ugo51

Ugo51

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Ugo
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Hi everybody,
I recently dug out of the closet my dad's Chinon CM4.
After months spent trying to decide what camera I could (not) afford - budget is tight - I realized my dad already had a SLR, and lenses too!

Compared to the cheap lenses found on compact cameras the 50mm f1.9 felt like a dream. The first set of pictures (out of an out-of-date film...) was disappoiting, hopefully not because light seals are leaking...
I will soon try another film and let you know.
 
Ugo51 said:
Hi everybody,
I recently dug out of the closet my dad's Chinon CM4.
After months spent trying to decide what camera I could (not) afford - budget is tight - I realized my dad already had a SLR, and lenses too!

Compared to the cheap lenses found on compact cameras the 50mm f1.9 felt like a dream. The first set of pictures (out of an out-of-date film...) was disappoiting, hopefully not because light seals are leaking...
I will soon try another film and let you know.
Click to expand...

Hi.... If you post a shot we might be able to say what is wrong and why you are disappointed.....there are very few crappy 50mm lenses around from all different makes as it was a common lens so would be surprised if the problem is your Chinon.
 
Cheers.



The white "light" in the corner is what worries me. I am afraid is the light seal that leaks.

This picture however doesn't have it... (it was taken with a different lens)




Colours are very grainy, but I was told it's because the film was well beyond the use-by date
 
Well I see what you mean h'mm with two different lenses...the light leak is not usually a problem as light seals are easy to do yourself..and the shot with the leak could be because the sun was hitting the right spot on the camera where the seal had deteriorated. The lenses are not showing their best, were they wide open as I can only get the first shot fairly sharp in Photoshop but the 2nd can't do much with it.
What you will have to do is get a roll of Vista from the Poundland shop (for £1) to see if the old film was the problem and go from there. Let us know how you get on.
 
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I don't think that is from a light leak. If the seals are rotten, then light usually travels through the film from the rear, substrate, side. This exhibits itself as a yellow or orange streak on colour film. Maybe it is caused by flare or an internal reflection?
 
Have a look at some examples of light leaks in the Flickr group 'Light Leaks'

https://www.flickr.com/groups/1382813@N22/pool/
Why anyone would want to start or post to such a group is beyond me. You can see that 90% of the postings show that yellow/orange nastiness I mentioned. As for the whitish examples, all I can say is that the poster is wrong in attributing the cause as a light leak. A dead give away for a light leak is light striking the area of the sprocket holes on 35mm film. If your sprocket holes' area is perfectly clear on your negatives, then it isn't a light leak.

I have one SLR which can (and does) leak light through the emulsion side of the film. That is because it is an old Contaflex with a shutter in the lens itself. When it is cocked the film gate is blocked by a sort of barn-door flap which moves out of the way when the shutter is fired. This complicated arrangement is the main reason that an in-lens leaf shutter never really caught on for SLRs.
 
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The first example looks a bit like flare, perhaps an un-coated lens with sun on the front element?

There are reviews of this lens at:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/chinon-auto-50mm-f1-9.html

The top review says "My copy of the Chinon 50 mm f 1.9 is fully as sharp as the Chinon 50 mm f 1.7 at least for situations where there is no major source of flare. It does not claim to be Multi-Coated, like the 1.7." Another mentions a con: "low performance at wide open aperture only suitable for soft portrait photography", however other reviews (including that last one) also praise the lens. But if not multi-coated it will be more susceptible to flare. Keep the sun off the front, either by shooting away from the sun, or use a hood. As Brian says, try some Poundland Vista 200 for your next set of tests to keep costs down...

Oh, and welcome, Ugo!
 
Thank you guys!

I see the orange streaks you are talking about, NickT (thanks to whoever decided to open such an usual group!). None of my pictures displays anything similar, so it's good.
This ne however has a white flare that is somewhat similar to what I have on mine...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/russellmcneil/15639026499/in/pool-1382813@N22/

- ChrisR: yes, the lens is a Chinon f1.9, so the not coated one. And looking back at the pictures with the white flare they all share one thing in common, the sun at around 90° to the direction on the lens! So, it might be flare.
Oh well, I might need to invest in a better lens!

In the meantime I purchased a 28-80 zoom lens... ;)
 
For K-mount lenses it's worth checking out Pentaxforums, lots of excellent reviews:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/userreviews/

I would generally not buy a lens that gets less than an average of 8 on their reviews.
 
Rubber collapsible lens hoods are under £5 delivered off ebay so well worth getting ahead of replacing the lens. I rarely shoot without a lens hood on now.
 
DNH said:
Rubber collapsible lens hoods are under £5 delivered off ebay so well worth getting ahead of replacing the lens. I rarely shoot without a lens hood on now.
Click to expand...

Definitely a cheap option compared to buying a lens :)
 
NickT said:
I don't think that is from a light leak. If the seals are rotten, then light usually travels through the film from the rear, substrate, side. This exhibits itself as a yellow or orange streak on colour film. Maybe it is caused by flare or an internal reflection?
Click to expand...

H'mm nearly all my leaks are white when testing out new cameras, but in the first few frames are orange...which would suggest a heavy leak while loading the film and the first 2 or 3 frames (as the back is open to start) and a faint leak at all other times when shooting.

A light leak and the camera was so bad it was leaking on the left also and on different days with no bright sun. Of course it could be Asda, but new seals and no more problems.
 
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A member gave me a camera and warned me that the back might be bowed well it might explain the pic. What I did was left the old seal in and stuck new one on top, the extra thickness cured it. The annoying thing about light leaks is many times every shot is not ruined and had one camera that a leak popped up now and again...I tried everything to solve but ended up throwing the camera away.
 
@excalibur2 I don't doubt that this is indeed due to a light leak but I can't see how light travelling through a colour negative film's rear substrate can give a white streak as opposed to orange like. I can't work out what path light would have to travel to hit the front surface of a film. I suppose it might go between the pay-off spindle and the pressure plate when the film becomes slack. In that case it might strike both the front and the rear of the film and under those circumstances, I've no idea what colour the streak might be. On your shot of the two girls, is there any evidence of a leak in the sprocket holes' area?

Incidentally the back on my Yashica Electro 35 is quite springy thin metal and it's prudent to keep it in a half case to avoid the occasional leak due to it flexing.
 
NickT said:
@excalibur2 I don't doubt that this is indeed due to a light leak but I can't see how light travelling through a colour negative film's rear substrate can give a white streak as opposed to orange like. I can't work out what path light would have to travel to hit the front surface of a film. I suppose it might go between the pay-off spindle and the pressure plate when the film becomes slack. In that case it might strike both the front and the rear of the film and under those circumstances, I've no idea what colour the streak might be. On your shot of the two girls, is there any evidence of a leak in the sprocket holes' area?

Incidentally the back on my Yashica Electro 35 is quite springy thin metal and it's prudent to keep it in a half case to avoid the occasional leak due to it flexing.
Click to expand...


I think the light is coming from the viewfinder.
The seal that closes up the mirror when in open position might be ruined. Unfortunately that's also the most complex to fix :(
 
NickT said:
@excalibur2 I don't doubt that this is indeed due to a light leak but I can't see how light travelling through a colour negative film's rear substrate can give a white streak as opposed to orange like. I can't work out what path light would have to travel to hit the front surface of a film. I suppose it might go between the pay-off spindle and the pressure plate when the film becomes slack. In that case it might strike both the front and the rear of the film and under those circumstances, I've no idea what colour the streak might be. On your shot of the two girls, is there any evidence of a leak in the sprocket holes' area?

Incidentally the back on my Yashica Electro 35 is quite springy thin metal and it's prudent to keep it in a half case to avoid the occasional leak due to it flexing.
Click to expand...

Dunno Nick for the technical side of how? But as said I've have had quite a few cameras from the booty with leaks and it's nearly all white smudges and solved them all (but one) with new seals....so I'm guessing that the light intensity (because of the leak) would be faint when using the camera for a quick shot @ say 1/250 sec (my usual speed) and that intensity of light is getting diffused through the seals (in that position taking a quick shot) and causing the white smudge, but if the camera was in that position for a longer time of say 10 secs more light would get through the seals and then cause an orange smudge...does that make sense?
H'mm Can't find the folder for the bad negs and don't usually keep neg failures so might have thrown them away.
 
Ugo51 said:
I think the light is coming from the viewfinder.
The seal that closes up the mirror when in open position might be ruined. Unfortunately that's also the most complex to fix :(
Click to expand...

Another possibility to think about esp if wearing specs and cant cup the viewfinder properly and who knows sun light could bounce off your spec into the viewfinder :eek:
 
excalibur2 said:
Another possibility to think about esp if wearing specs and cant cup the viewfinder properly and who knows sun light could bounce off your spec into the viewfinder :eek:
Click to expand...

I don't wear specs but sometimes I do take the eye off the viewfinder.
Keeping the viewfinder shut might help.
 
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